Go Play In the Traffic!. Lenet Compton

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      Go Play in the Traffic!

      How to Drive with Finesse

      L.T. Compton

      Edited by Karen L. Anderson, M.A., of ACTS-ion Solutions, LLC

      Copyright © 2013 by Lenet Compton

      ISBN-13: 978-1-4566-2049-3

      All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the copyright owner.

      Published in eBook format by eBookIt.com

       http://www.eBookIt.com

      Dedication

      This book is dedicated to my father for always encouraging and believing in me.

      Dreams do come true!

      Acknowledgement

      My husband, Bob

      Barbara Shapiro ~ Rich Delaney ~ Cathy Newton

      Encouragement, Honesty, Enthusiasm

      Thank you. You have all enriched my life!

      Drive to end polio

      Author is a Spring Hill, Kansas Rotarian pictured here administering

      the polio vaccine to an infant in India.

      Several years ago I learned about the incredible work Rotary clubs and Rotary International is doing to eradicate the polio virus from the face of the earth (there are three poliovirus strains). The possibility of permanently eliminating a disease resonated with me; especially a disease that cripples children.

      Two drops of the oral polio virus vaccine is all it takes to ensure a child is free from the threat of this crippling disease. At the writing of this book, endemic polio has been reduced to Nigeria, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and India.

      We’re almost there. We can’t give up now. Therefore, proceeds from this book will be donated to the polio eradication effort. Giving the two drops of vaccine to children in India was my “Rotary moment”. Let your purchase of this book be your moment. Become part of history – help wipe polio off the face of the earth!

      Visit http://www.polioeradication.org and http://www.rotary.org for additional information regarding the polio eradication effort.

      Thank you!

      Preface

      With her father in Bourbon, Missouri,

      the author gets a feel for the steering wheel.

      Editorial note: I use the word “you” throughout this book to indicate the reader, a driver, or people in general.

      ~

      I have been passionate about driving ever since I can remember. You see, I’m a driving enthusiast. Not the type of enthusiast that knows every car--make and model. I’m the type of enthusiast that wants to have the best driving experience getting around town or having a highway adventure. Driving is an enormous responsibility. For me, taking that responsibility seriously is an art and a lot of fun.

      My earliest driving memory is 3:00 o’clock on the morning of vacation when I was about six years old. My family always left on vacation in the wee hours before dawn. “Makes the car run better when you don’t drive in the heat,” Dad rationalized. How well the car ran didn’t matter to me. It was just fun to be carried out of bed in my jammies and laid back to rest on the car-bed.

      Car-bed instructions: place one appropriately sized hard sided suitcase on each side of the drive train hump between the front and back seat. Pad entire area with blankets.

      OK, so you have to go to a flea market these days to find hard-sided suitcases, and there isn’t enough room between the front and back seat of most cars anymore, and there are seatbelt laws, and so many people drive vans and SUV’s… But in MY day none of that was a problem and I was in bliss.

      My next driving memory is that my father could tell me exactly when to blow out the red signal light so it would turn green. You probably don’t need those instructions! Dad was always thinking ahead; planning every driving maneuver. That is how I became hooked on driving strategy. Or as I like to call it, driving finesse!

      In full disclosure I was fearful of one thing; my father’s passing gusto. If he wanted to pass you he would pass you. Believe me when I say there were not enough brake peddles in the car for the rest of the family. My heart would nearly burst through my skin; my palms would become clammy as they clenched the seat to prepare for the worse even as I leaned forward for a better look. The worse never came unless you take into account premature gray hair. Passing nine cars in a single stretch with on-coming traffic in sight was not my idea of the shortest distance between two points. But, oh, it was so exciting!

      My sweaty palms have been replaced with adrenalin that can keep a bear from hibernating. The only difference is that now I am the one creating the gray hairs. The family wasn’t surprised when I insisted they delay our weekend trip departure until afternoon so I could get my driver’s license first thing on my 16th birthday. They knew I would have hidden the distributor cap if they didn’t take me to the License Bureau that day. There would be no delay in getting my license. It wasn’t long before I began taking road trips on my own. Right before I’d pull out of the driveway, Dad would send me off saying, “Go play in the traffic!” I appreciate the passion my father instilled in me to strive to be the best driver I can be: to drive with finesse!

      ~

      To drive with finesse you must take responsibility for your choices. Be smooth and purposeful. To drive with finesse you must think ahead of every situation. Anticipate and calculate what might happen. Think about what you are doing, what you want to do and what you believe drivers around you will do.

      Then make things happen! Don’t let situations happen to you. Be proactive!

      ~

      This book is beyond driver’s education. This book is about developing your finesse to help you become an even safer, superior driver.

      Everyone goes through life. Only a few go through it with finesse. You can be one of the few. Now, Go Play in the Traffic!

      No license yet?

      Let’s start at the beginning. Having pre-license driving experience was invaluable when I went through Driver’s Education. Instructors immediately sensed I had “done this before.” While the other kids were learning techniques, I was simply getting more behind-the-wheel time.

      My belief is that kids gain valuable confidence with supervised, pre-license driving whether that driving is on a tractor, dirt bike, car, truck or off-road vehicle.

      Having confidence is not the same as being cocky. Confidence with finesse requires humility. You won’t be perfect just because you are confident but you have a better chance of staying alive because you are aware.

      As instructors at Bob Bondurant School of High Performance Driving remind drivers, there are only four tire patches connecting you to the road. Four patches approximately